Keep the holidays merry for your pets, too

With the holidays come gifts, but what could be a treasured (or not so much) item for you might represent a health hazard for your pet.

Petplan, a Pennsylvania-based pet insurance company, recently released a list of its top 10 gift or gift-related items that could end up costing pet owners heartache and possibly thousands of dollars in veterinarian bills.

As the company points out, a little planning could go a long way, because pet owners in the U.S. spend a lot of money on care. In 2016, pet owners are expected to spend nearly $16 billion on veterinarian care, according to the American Pet Products Association.

Here are some of the top hazardous holiday items listed by Petplan.

▪ Socks: While they look harmless to you, that new pair of socks might look like lunch to your furry friend. Yes, your dog might eat the socks your mother gave you, and getting a sock out of an intestine is much harder and much more expensive than getting it there.

▪ Boxed chocolates: Forrest Gump said life is like this gift in one of the most famous movies of the 1990s, but eating chocolate would be harmful to your pet. Chocolate contains theobromine, which has been known to cause illness or even death in cats and dogs.

▪ Bath products: Another universally popular gift item, bath products such as lotions and salts can be relaxing, but not for the pet that gets salt poisoning from them. Bath salts contain magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride (table salt), both of which can kill or permanently injure your furry friend, according to Petplan.

▪ Holiday plants: Those Christmas lilies are nice to look at, but they can cause kidney failure in kitties. Also, though once thought to be more toxic than they really are, poinsettias contain sap that can cause an unpleasant rash.

▪ House guests: Admittedly, this last one seems like a bit of a stretch, although new people in the home can cause stress for pets. When your dog or cat is stressed by guests and humans constantly coming in and out of the home, they could run away or dart into traffic and get hit be a vehicle.

This story was originally published December 11, 2016 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Keep the holidays merry for your pets, too."